On September 14th and 15th, EMPHASIS brought together its team from six Mediterranean countires in Alexandria, Egypt to choose the 24 Mediterranean beneficiaries for its Open Call from Greece, Jordan, Spain, Lebanon, Egypt, and Italy. Over a 7-month period (September 2022–April 2023) the awardees will receive significant innovation support services to address sustainability challenges and turn them into economic possibilities through external cross-border partnerships at the EUROMED level. 

The third meeting of its sort for the project and the first face-to-face gathering for the partnership occurred in Alexandria, which was hosted by the Confederation of Egyptian European Business Associations - CEEBA and the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. The two-day event began on Tuesday morning at the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce with an institutional welcome by the hosts, followed by the lead partners, KiNNO Consultants, and the first Committee discussions. The consortium talked about future project activities after choosing the Open Call beneficiaries, including the launch of the EMPHASIS Open Innovation Platform, providing training and advice to SMEs to improve their capacity for innovation, as well as creating the Mediterranean Open Innovation Network Handbook. Later in the day partners enjoyed a local dinner by the shore of the Mediterranean. On the second day, a visit to the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport's Entrepreneurship Center was made after the discussions to see how much work, research, and resources had been put into helping startups, young people, and small businesses succeed as well as bringing the essence of cross-border cultural exchange to life.

EMPHASIS aims to co-create a EURO-MED Open Innovation eco-system to enable information to cross Mediterranean boundaries and be translated into business concepts and marketable items. The project intends to promote meaningful cross-border knowledge flows, give Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) the tools they need to access and utilize external knowledge bases, and identify industries that might capitalize on sustainability concerns (e.g., agro-food, energy, materials). The project will make it easier for partnerships to work together across borders to share information and co-create cutting-edge goods and services in settings that prioritize the needs of the user.